I have to disagree with others who have written snippy reviews here. We stayed in the in the Merrythought Room, a separate room by the church. We were there on an exceptionally cold weekend and found Helen and her staff to be extremely welcoming and attentive. The room was cosy, well heated and the bathroom, although small, was fine. Best bit was breakfast in Apothecary itself with excellent coffee, pastries, fruit and muesli - enough to keep us going until lunchtime. It maybe that the rooms could benefit from a lick of paint, but for the money, I thought this represented really good value for money and we would go there again. I'm not sure what people expect for £80 a night in a place like Rye.

Lumpy bed. Tatty furniture. Grubby bathroom. All round shappy

Very disappointing. The location is very good, and the coffee shop part is fine, but the rooms are shabby. Maybe they were nice when the conversion was first done a few years back, but the place has been allowed to become grubby. The bed was very lumpy, and basic things like adequate towel hanging space, or something to grab when getting out of the shower, were lacking. We did not see how the price could be justified.

We booked the Merrythought for the weekend. It's an annex around the corner from the Apothecary. When we got into the room, I thought it was a joke. Tatty and scruffy. From the grubby windows to the soiled carpet, I lived in better student houses. If we hadn't already had pre-booked train tickets, or could have found another place for the weekend, we'd have gone elsewhere. The staff were nice and helpful and breakfast was pleasant and relaxed, but the accomodation was, to put it bluntly, a liberty. A toilet bowl half a metre from the head of the bed with plasterboard between the two? How lovely..... Rye is lovely and we'll be back, but we need a plan B for accomodation.